Is there anyway to buy stock in a company without have to go thru some company like e-trade. I would like to invest but even by going to a company website directly I do not see options for buying stock. I have an issue with using a third party who wants me to pay for the pleasure of buying stock for me and then continues to charge me fees.

Sure. All you need to do is find someone who has the stock you want, in registered certificates. Buy them from that person and register the sale yourself.

Or, you can do what are called DRIPs, Direct Receipt Investment Programs, if the company you want to buy from has such a program. They used to be fairly popular, haven't heard much about them since the rise of the discount brokerages. You buy them at the company's ask price, regardless of the market price, and sell them the same way, at their bid price. Each transaction takes a week or more to complete.

I've heard of some people trying to start their own person-to-person markets, but never really looked into it, seems a bit risky for me.